Meeting the Parents
by flagma
Summary: Sherlock meets John's parents. Sherlock learns that knowing and seeing are very different things.


AN:Thanks to darlingnikkisayshi on tumblr for the idea + asdfgh you read my fics.  
Thanks for all the follows comments and favorites!

/

John had said it was only fair. He had been to Sherlock house for a sleepover so Sherlock should be able to come over as well. It had been a month since the sleepover at Sherlock's house and the two had become even closer friends (Sherlock's only friend.) So this Friday instead of going home like usually Sherlock was heading for a sleepover at John's house.

School had just ended and John and Sherlock were at the front gate waiting for John's mum to pick them up. John was feeling slightly subconscious. He was a lot poorer than Sherlock. His home was scuzzy and was not in the best area. His house was also a third of the size. John hopped is dad would stay down the pub until they were asleep. He knew Sherlock already knew, he had in fact told him when they first met, but it was one thing to say it and another to see it. He didn't like it when his dad was drunk.

Most of the other kids had left before John's mum picked them up. John felt embarrassed that when he went to Sherlock's he was picked up in a posh car by a driver while he was in a battered second hand car. Sherlock however cared very little about these things. John was his first and only friend and anything else didn't really matter. He was even a little bit jealous that John's mum could make the time to pick him up when his parents were always too busy.

Along with John's mum there was a young girl sitting in the front of the car. Sherlock figured this must be John's sister Harriet, but prefers being called Harry. John's mum beeped the horn.

"Boys over here" John's mum called, needlessly.

John's ears were red with embarrassment, as both boys went to the car and slid into the back and buckling there seatbelts.

"So you must be Sherlock" John's mum said brightly.

"Obviously" Sherlock muttered earning a sharp nudge form John.

Sherlock sighed "Thank-you for allowing me to stay Mrs Watson"

She laughed "No need to be so formal its fine to call me Jenny"

"If you dare call me Harriet you'll regret it" Harry growled.

"Harry!" Jenny chided.

"I don't want to be here with Johnny and his weird friend"

"Don't call me Johnny and Sherlock isn't weird"

"Yeah he is, all the kids at my school have heard about him, the freak who can look at you and know everything"

"Stop calling him names" John shouted.

"Stop this now. Harriet Watson you will apologise now or you will be grounded, no phone or computer for a month."

"Sorry" Harried said sullenly and slumped in her seat.

John looked like he wanted to argue more but Sherlock patted his shoulder.

"It's fine John"

"No its not, stop believing that it is."

Sherlock was silent not knowing what to say.

Eventual they arrive at a plain looking council house. It was on a street full of the same house, built for convince, only differentiating from what was in each garden and one was painted a light blue as opposed to the dirty cream of the others. John house in particular had paint falling off and the grass was overgrown. By the side of the doorstep was a dead plant in a flowerpot. As Jenny pulled up into the drive Sherlock catalogued all these details.

"Here we are" Jenny said, turning the car off.

John nudged Sherlock before he could say anything and unbuckled his seatbelt.

Slipping out of the car, Sherlock stuck close to his friend and waited with him for John's mum to open the door.

The inside of John's house was obviously much different than Sherlock's. The door opened into a narrow hallway with stairs leading to the next floor taking up half the space. The other half led to three other rooms, judging by the number of doors, one being the kitchen which was straight down the hall where Sherlock could see a battered fridge.

One inside Harry rushed up the stairs and went it to presumably her room, slamming the door once inside. Sherlock didn't really care, she obviously was nothing like her brother.

"Mum, can we go to my room" John asked.

"Of course honey, dinners at five"

John made a sound of acknowledgment and dragged Sherlock up the stairs. Taking him to the farthest door from the top of the stairs to what was obviously John's room.

It was unusually neat. In fact it showed the signs that someone (most likely his mother) had cleaned the room. The wall were a faded cream. The floor had a dark blue carpet with a few stains one it (one a dropped piece of toast covered in jam, another spilled milk as well as a paint stain.) There was a simple pine single bed pushed up against one wall, made neatly. Above it a shelf which had various stuff toys on top. Next to the bed was a bookshelf which was full of books and various toys and games. Opposite it on the other side of the room was a wardrobe presumably full of John's clothes and various other things what his mother would have tidied away. What was obviously not usually in the room was the fold out bed taking up much on the free space.

Sherlock placed his bag on the fold out bed. He only had a change of clothes and his toothbrush inside along with the rest of his school supplies. He turned to face John, not knowing what they were going to do. John jumped onto Sherlock's temporary bed and grinned.

"Do you want to play a game?" John asked.

"Sure" Sherlock said sitting opposite John on the bed.

After some debate they decided to play Mousetrap. After John won this they moved to Jenga which Sherlock was winning until John's mum called them for tea.

Sherlock followed John downstairs and bumped in to him when he had abruptly stopped.

"You know it not going to be fancy food like it was at yours" John said.

"Obviously, I don't care what I eat John as long as it isn't poisonous" Sherlock said.

They walked in to the kitchen which also served as the dining room, it appeared what Harry would not be joining them which suited Sherlock fine.

Johns mum served them food and Sherlock regarded the meal. It appeared to be a breaded meat (most likely chicken) in the shape of different types of dinosaurs, with chips. He looked over to John who was already devouring his meal. Sherlock started to eat but at a slower pace.

"John, slow down, you're eating like an animal, look at your friend and how nicely he's eating" John's mum scolded.

"Sorry mum" John said though a mouthful of food.

The meal was rather uneventful. Once finished John asked his mum if they could watch telly before bed.

Sherlock never really watched television, he preferred to do experiments rather that watch TV. So when john asked he really had no opinion on what to watch. John started to flick though the channels and settled on a cartoon which had a group of teens and there dog solving crime.

"It's the janitor." Sherlock said after ten minutes

"You can't know that" John argued.

"I can and I do it's the janitor"

"Yeah well we'll see"

After the gang had captured the ' _ghost_ ' they revealed that it was the janitor.

"Told you"

"Amazing, hey I have DVD's of this, want to watch"

"Sure"

It was just before bed time when Sherlock heard the front door slam and noticed John flinch. He heard heavy and uneven steps and a slurred voice called out.

"Jenny where are ya" the man bellowed.

Jenny who was watching over the boys forced a smile.

"Boys it's time for bed" She said before replying "I'm in the living room, sending the boys to bed."

John quickly got up and tugged Sherlock after him. Sherlock was silent. He already knew that John's dad was an alcoholic and that when he was drunk was when most arguing starts.

They had to pass John's dad in the hallway. He wasn't a tall man but he was broad with a large bee belly. He was wearing a stained shirt which was buttoned wrongly and was half tucked in to his trousers. He had grey blonde hair that was thinning on the top of his head with bloodshot grey eyes and at least a weeks' worth of stubble on his face. He was wobbling down the hall and the boys just managed to slide past him and made it halfway up the stairs before the man called out.

"John, whossse yuuur little friend?" John's farther slurred.

John had frozen on the stairs and hesitantly replied "His names Sherlock"

"Sherrrrlock, the rich brat?" John's farther asked.

Sherlock was slightly started at this and John grip on him tightened.

"Hello sir" Sherlock said.

John's farther was about to say more when John's mother called though.

"Steven the boys are going to bed now"

The man grunted in response then spoke to the boys

"Better not heat a peep out of you" he growled then stumbled off into the living room.

John dragged Sherlock the rest of the way to his room and silently got ready for bed. Sherlock had wanted to question John but noticing his mood he decided against it, getting ready for bed himself. John waited until Sherlock was in his bed before turning off the light and getting into his own. They were both silent, listening to the muffled voices in the rooms below. Sherlock was unsure what to say, or if he should say anything. He already knew most the problems in John's family but there was a difference between observing second hand and witnessing first hand.

The voices bellow were getting louder.

"If I want to go out drinking I can bloody well do it, it's my money and I can do what I want!" Steven shouted.

"You knew John was having a friend round, do you know how embarrassing this is!" Jenny replied.

"That freaky looking kid, figures that my boy instead of making normal friends would stick to a kid like that."

John made a noise and turned to face the wall, away from Sherlock and curled in on himself.

"He's a child, you can't say things like that"

"I can say what I want, that kid is freaky, why dose a rich brat like him have no friends?"

"John is his friend"

"Yeah well because of that brat John doesn't have any others, he better ditch the kid or hell end up like your daughter"

"Our daughter and there is nothing wrong with Harry"

Their voices were going louder now and Sherlock was tuning them out. He was not really surprised on how John's parents felt about him, he knew he was disliked and did not care for their opinion on him. There was the slamming of doors downstairs and the arguing had stopped. Now Sherlock could hear quite snivelling. Looking over to John he could see his friend was shaking slightly. Quietly Sherlock slipped from his bed to John's. He knew very little of how to comfort other but when he was sad, mummy would hug him and he feel better. He searched under the covers until he found the huddled form of his friend and hugged him.

"It's fine John" he said.

"It's not" John sniffled and turned around to face Sherlock "I hate the arguing, I hate him saying stuff about you"

"People have said worse"

"They shouldn't"

They both hell silent not knowing what else to say. Eventually John's breathing became deeper and rhythmic and Sherlock was going to slip out of his bed and return to his own but in his sleep John had gripped tight to Sherlock's clothes and groaned in protest at Sherlock's attempt to leave. Giving up with little protest Sherlock settled down and also fell asleep next to his best friend.

/

AN: This has been on my AO3 but i am not sure if everyone reads or looks at it s i decided to post it here as well. Sorry it took a while. (yes the cartoon is scooby doo and i claim no ownership of the program)


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